Sir George Prévost, Governor in Chief of British North America and overall commander of the invasion forces, was anxious to begin his campaign as early as possible, to avoid the bad weather of late autumn and winter, and continually pressed Downie to prepare Confiance for battle more quickly.

Although the British sloops and gunboats were already on the Lake, it took two days to tow the frigate Confiance up the Richelieu River from Ile aux Noix, against both wind and current.

For all intents and purposes, the vessel was still unfinished at the time of the battle, with some workmen, including riggers and carpenters, still laboring on her completion right up to the days before.

This was a pre-arranged signal to the British land forces announcing his presence and his intent to engage the American fleet, basically informing them they could begin their offensive operations.

Macdonough had cleverly anchored his vessels in a line, each bow to stern, across the entrance of Plattsburgh Bay from Cumberland Head at the north, to Crab Island at the south.

As Confiance suffered increasing damage from the American ships, he was forced to drop anchor between 300[9] and 500[10] yards from Macdonough's flagship, the corvette USS Saratoga.

This in turn had dismounted the 2,000-pound cannon from its carriage and sent it tipping up on end before sprawling on top of the commanding officer, crushing him to the deck and killing him instantly.

One eyewitness later recorded how Downie appeared when the heavy gun was removed from his body: His skin was not broken, a black mark about the size of a small plate was the only visible injury.

The vessel's surviving lieutenant, James Robertson, tried to haul in on the springs to his only remaining anchor that hadn't been shot away to make a similar maneuver, but succeeded only in presenting the vulnerable stern to the American fire.

The last vestige of the British Squadron, HMS Linnet, itself barely a floating hulk, continued to fire defiantly for an additional fifteen minutes following the flagship's surrender.

[14] In his after action report to Secretary of the Navy William Jones, Commodore Macdonough estimated that during the battle the Confiance had sustained at least 105 hits from round shot.

Daniel Records, assigned by Macdonough as the Confiance's prize master, later reported the extent of the damage to be "250 to 300 cannon shot in the hull and grape without number."

A local area judge, Julius Caesar Hubbell, was allowed to visit the ships of the American and British squadrons immediately following the action and later recounted the grisly scene he witnessed aboard Confiance: ... here was an absolutely horrible sight.

Understandably rot quickly spread through the green-timbered ships, and in 1820 they were towed into the nearby mouth of the Poultney River, known as East Bay, and formally abandoned.

After a huge explosion, the only remains of the largest warship ever to sail on Lake Champlain were turned into a limited supply of walking canes, which were sold for a dollar apiece.

Also supposedly present are several cannon, possibly as many as thirteen, that were thrown overboard from the Confiance by the Americans following the British surrender to lighten her and correct a serious list as the vessel was actually in danger of sinking.